Entering and Leaving Port

The area between the port and the open sea often contains different hazards and currents. The harbour pilot must know every channel, current, sand bar or other obstacle that could endanger the vessel.

Except electronic aids to navigation all ships should carry up-to-date official charts, sailing directions, list of the lights, tide tables and all other nautical publications necessary for the voyage. Some notes of voyages are kept in log books or logs. Entries commonly include such navigational data as the ship’s course, speed (knots), and distance travelled and weather information (weather forecast/report). The unit of distance used by navigators is the nautical mile, while for short distances the cable or one-tenth of a nautical mile is used and for measuring the depth of the sea, the fathom (6 feet = 182,88 cm) is the nautical unit of length.

Besides charts all necessary for a navigator data is described in pilot book. When navigating in dangerous areas the navigator should avoid such dangers as banks or bars, patches and shallow waters, reef and ridge, submerged wreck or any dangerous obstruction, underwater rocks and shoals and especially floating ice formation and fast ice in the Northern seas.

In navigating special attention should be paid to tides, they are measured from chart datum, and levels are always given at average heights. Tidal streams are horizontal movements of the water caused by the tides, in European waters the tidal streams are of the same type as the tides. The duration and the rate of tidal streams depend on the depth of water, contour of the land, prevailing winds and currents.

The currents are mainly of meteorological origin. They are affected by strong winds, barometric pressure and storm surges. Tidal streams may also affect currents and produce ripples, eddies and races.

The navigator should be guided by special instructions, for example, about effect of wind, tidal stream and character of bottom. Conspicuous landmarks such as lighthouses, summits of mountains or lights on some constructions are used to show the direction of approach to some place. Two conspicuous objects brought in line from seaward may lead the ship clear of dangers into the port, roadstead, bay and anchorage.

Exercise 3. Give brief answers to the following questions:

1. What units of measurement used at sea do you know? 2. What is a nautical chart? 3. What dangers may threaten the ship’s safety? 4. What book should a navigator consult to avoid dangers/find out the data about tides and streams/check the direction to a safe way? 5. Why is navigation especially dangerous in the North? 6. What are tides? 7. What is meant by directions? 8. In what form are they given? 9. What is understood by a leading line? 10. What useful information may be found in pilot books under the heading “Dangers”, “Directions” and “Tides and Tidal Streams”?

Exercise 4. Give equivalents:

• in Russian: to be out of danger, shoal, to endanger a vessel, submerged rock, wreck, fast ice, least depth, off-shore dangers, to cancel out, average, standard port, to predict, eddy, storm surge, to affect, conspicuous, canal, shallow waters, lightvessel, shoal, to threaten safety, sand bar; bay, positive or negative surge, swirl, patch, pilot book;

• in English: бухта, якорная стоянка, покидать порт, прилив, водоворот, угрожать безопасности, рейд, обходить или избегать опасность, следовать курсу судна, береговой ориентир, вершина, указания, створная линия, средний, сажень, быть на достаточном расстоянии от опасностей, руководствоваться рекомендациями, морской прилив или отлив, причал, мелководье, подводная скала, отмель, описываются в лоциях, из-за льда, могут столкнуться, пирс, гряда рифов.

Exercise 5. Match the words from the left column with the words from the right column.

1. cable laying operations	a. измерители скорости течения
2. on passage from… to	b. опасно для навигации
3. traffic line	c. прикрыть от ветра
4. current meters	d. на переходе от … до…
5. hampered vessel	e. менее одиннадцати морских саженей
6. abnormally low tides	f. препятствие
7. hazardous to navigation	g. Я на мели.
8. approach channel	h. необычно низкие отливы
9. make a lee	j. дрейфующий лед
10. to give a wide berth	k. полоса движения
11. under 11 fathoms	l. судно, ограниченное в возможности маневрировать
12. well off … the pier	m. операции по укладке кабеля
13. floating ice	n. подходной канал
14. I’m aground.	o. на значительном расстоянии от пирса
15. obstruction	p. пройти в безопасном расстоянии

Exercise 6. Read the dialogue and then make up your own one.

A: This is LIVERPOOL Pilot station. Question: What’s your present position? Over.

B: Pilot station. This is “Odessa”. I have dropped port anchor three miles off the P-point. Information: owing to tidal stream and bad holding ground I am swinging too much. Need your advice. Over.

A: This is Pilot station. Advice: change your anchorage two miles westward of Point P. Over.

B: pilot station. This is “Odessa”. Action positive. I will weigh my anchor and proceed to the recommended position. Over.

holding ground – держащий грунт to swing (swung, swung) – поворачивать

weigh anchor - сниматься с якоря

Exercise 7. Choose the right variant.

1. Pilot books or Sailing Directions are updated when new data _____ extensive revision of an existing text.	a) required	c) is required
	b) requires	d) are requiring
2. The data ____ from several sources, including pilots and sailing directions from other countries.	a) obtains	c) to be obtain
	b) to obtain	d) are obtained
3. In early 2005 subsequent editions of the pilot book _____ distributed in digital form only.	a) were	c) are
	b) is	d) to be
4. Planning Guide volumes _____ the navigator in planning an extensive oceanic voyage, as well as giving information on individual countries that is applicable to all ports in those countries.	a) assisting	c) assist
	b) assisted	d) is assisted
5. Individual Planning Guides ____ into Countries and Ocean Basins	a) are divided	c) dividing
	b) divides	d) is divided

Exercise 8. Look through the text and then decide which statement is TRUE/FALSE.

• Winds and density of seawater seldom impact on currents.

• Salt and density are the interrelated values.

• The Gulf Stream is one of the strongest tides known.

Currents

The horizontal and vertical circulation of ocean waters are called currents. Major causes of ocean currents include wind friction, gravity, and variation in water density in different parts of the ocean.

The Role of Wind

  Surface ocean currents are mainly caused by wind. The winds that most affect the oceans' currents are:

• The Western winds (40-50 degree latitudes) blow west to east. 

• The Trade Winds (20 degree latitudes) blow east to west.

• Both of these winds are a result of warm air from the tropics moving to the poles and the Coriolis effect (that due to the rotation of the Earth, water moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere). Because these huge circular currents are blocked by continents, smaller (though still giant) ocean current circles called gyres are formed. 

The Role of Density

  Differences in water density affect vertical ocean currents (movement of surface ocean water to the bottom of the ocean and movement of deep ocean water to the surface). 

Variations in water density are caused by variations in salinity (the amount of salt in water) and temperature. Saltier water is more dense than less salty water; cold water is more dense than warm water. Denser water tends to sink, while less dense water tends to rise. Cold-water currents occur as the cold water at the poles sinks and slowly moves toward the equator. Warm-water currents travel out from the equator along the surface, flowing toward the poles to replace the sinking cold water.

As these currents mix the oceans surface and deep waters, they help replenish the oxygen in the water.

The Gulf Stream

  The Gulf Stream is one of the strongest currents known. It moves along through the Gulf of Mexico, past the east coast of the United States and on to Northern Europe. Without the warm Gulf Stream, England and other places in Europe would be as cold as Canada.

1.	trade winds	пассаты
2.	gyre(s)	водоворот(ы)
3.	coriolis effect	эффект Кориолиса
4.	runoff	разлив (рек, озер) при подъеме уровня воды в водоеме

Exercise 9. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below. Choose them from the following list.

clear of leads cancel… out pass broken away attempt